A few more. My next shipping day should be Thursday. I really love the urns in this first photo. It’s the clear glaze on porcelain clay with the dove grey glaze in the text and the gold upgrade in the stamp.

I’ll split the most recent batch of urns into two posts. Mostly I try to photograph ones that seem to be unique from previous orders, or the most unusual ones. This seems to help future customers see the possibilities as my etsy listings are mostly all photos from orders well over a year ago.

We are in the final stretch. I discounted the ready made jars and urns in my Etsy shop down 25%. Everything custom has a long lead time, but these ready made jars and urns are ready to ship to you. There is a shop section in my Etsy shop. You can use them as jars or urns. Only one discount code per order, the additional instagramfan15 coupon code cannot be used with items already discounted. now back to packing, finishing making, firing, glazing, firing, and packing. I’m dropping 68 boxes off at the post office today, and 52 boxes on Thursday. And then I can take a breath.

I have added more ready made/ ready to ship urns. My next batch of custom orders will be shipping this weekend. I should have 4 batches of orders shipping out this weekend and next week. I am very grateful for having all three kilns up and running. I would have never been able to do this volume of orders in my last studio. I also love having all of my shipping stuff down in the studio too and not shipping from our living room. Now if we can just figure out how to stop the new sink from leaking from somewhere behind the new new Sheetrock wall...

Another round of orders shipped yesterday, a few favorites here. I also have added the “add your personalization” option to my Etsy listings, hopefully it will make it much easier for people to figure out how to order. It was actually really easy to activate this as I could do it to many listings at once using the batch edit. Now back to making the next round of orders that will hopefully ship in 2-3 days.

Photos here of recently shipped custom orders. I will be shipping a next round of orders today.

I am so grateful when customers choose to share images of their urns, and when they let me share them too. Here is a photo from @meyouandpirisplace with their very special urns. I have been making these urns since 2012 and I have had many repeat customers over the years. I know loss is so very hard, but I always hope my urns can bring a little bit of light and peace into my customers lives.

The kids are finally fast asleep, and I’m back in the studio for glazing, throwing and getting the kilns running. And I have hot water! I have never had a utility sink in my studio before, I always use a bucket system, often it ends up being very cold water from the hose. I am so excited to be able to work with warm water in the winter. And yes, my studio is still no where close to being presentable. Someday there will be windows here looking out into the forest. But for now, this is my only patch of finished sheet rock, flanked by hand drawn ‘x’s for future windows. No studio sale this year or studio visits or even local pick ups for orders. No local shows or sales either, it’s been a crazy year and I am still in the middle of the craziness.

In this weather, nothing seems to ever dry in my studio. These custom pieces will head into the loosely packed kiln for an 8 hour preheat upside down, and then I will flip them over and fire them as a bisque firing. I have to fire the pieces as soon as possible, so I can’t wait to fill up my kiln with tomorrow’s porcelain load.

A set of 20 spice bottles are almost ready to ship. Here is my current range of greys. The second photo shows a new satin grey called smoke that I have been trying out. I would love to see it on a custom urn order and to add it to my color palette soon!

This weekend’s custom orders are in their way, it will be another 5 days or so until the next shipment of orders are ready to go.

Today is the last day of my etsy cybersale. This week I am a couple of days behind on my current batch of orders, I didn’t get the making and firing schedule as tight as it needed to be over the Thanksgiving holiday. I have one batch shipped, and another shipping this weekend. It’s a constant repeat of making/ firing / shipping right now, I just wish my 18 month old would feel better soon so I can start to sleep at night again too.

Usually once or twice a year, I give away all of my clay scraps. I have about 2 trash cans full of scraps, I would love to give them to a local potter who wants to recycle and reuse them. I have posted an ad in Portland Craigslist, in the craft and art section of you want them. Please contact me via the Craigslist ad. I am looking for an artist, not a donation center recommendation.

Now that we are past the ordering deadline for custom orders for Christmas delivery, I will start to add ready made urns to my etsy shop. These cannot be customized, but they are ready to ship. All found in the ready made shop section, all unique. I will try adding a few each day, I have a bunch more of these.

A few close-ups from this weekend’s custom urns. I usually discourage the dark pacific blue glaze used as a glaze in text because it sometimes looks messy after I apply it into the text, but I really love how this one turned out. Now on to the next batch. I have had a few customers inquire about extending my 30% off sale, so I will extend it until at least tomorrow. Please check the delivery dates when you order though, we are past the date for holiday orders.

Some of last weeks custom urns. I have not taken a “family” portrait of the pieces as the come out of the kiln in a while. My next batch will have several very large urns, I hope to take another photo of the next batch too. And just a reminder my cyber sale continues in my Etsy shop.

I just continued my weekend 30% off cybersale on Etsy for 1 more day to include cyber Monday!. This includes free domestic shipping. Please check the shipping dates listed when you order, I have a 4 week time for me to make all custom items listed in my shop (except for utensil holders). I am not doing any holiday shows or events this year, and so far this weekend I have made more in my Etsy cybersale than I typically do with all of my local holiday shows (which would have been impossible to do with these two crazy, young kids). Now is the busy time, when I am going to be constantly in the studio for the entire next month getting everything made. It’s a different approach than past years, but so far it seems to be working out.

My friend Kirsten of @turnofthecenturies is running an Instagram sale/fundraiser on her special @totcsale Instagram account. All of the proceeds go directly to refugees, and it’s a great opportunity to collect her prints at up to 75% off. She is running it like an auction, so check out her @totcsale account and bid on each post for the item. Shipping is extra, but it should be a small charge as the prints are so light. Good luck with your sale/ fundraiser, kirsten!

The sale continues in my Etsy shop. 30% off most all custom items plus free shipping for domestic orders. We have passed the ordering deadline for holiday orders, but as most of my customers are buying for themselves, this is still my best sale of the year. I am not doing a studio sale this year, my studio build out is still very much a work in progress. I am just hoping to have the new studio sink working before we have to turn off the hose and outdoor spigot, and I can start throwing with warm water again soon. This photo shows one of our chubby squirrels in our black walnut tree. Our yard is full of these squirrels and the coyotes that stalk them all day long.

My cybersale in my Etsy shop is still running, I just cranked the discount up to 30% off with free shipping on USA orders. The discount should be already applied so no need to add a coupon code (unless you are looking at the few non-sale items). My holiday shipping date for custom orders has passed for everything except utensil holders.